Module 2: The TEI Header

3. The TEI Header Sections

<encodingDesc> (encoding description): description of the
relation of the electronic text to its source

<profileDesc> (profile description): description of the
context in which the electronic text was created, and classification
information

<revisionDesc> (revision description): description of the
revision history of the electronic text

As indicated in the previous section, the bibliographic file
description (<fileDesc>) is the sole mandatory section of any TEI
header. When other header sections are present, they must occur in above
order.

Note:

To ease visual recognition, the mandatory elements of TEI header
(sub)sections are printed in red in the element overviews in this
tutorial.

3.1. The File Description

The file description,
in the <fileDesc> element, must occur as the first element in the
TEI header. It contains a bibliographic description of the electronic
text, and may consist of following subsections:

<titleStmt> (title statement): groups
information about the title of the electronic text and those
responsible for its intellectual content

<editionStmt> (edition statement): groups information
relating to the edition of the electronic text

3.1.1. The Title Statement

The title statement minimally lists the title of the electronic text in a <title> element. Next to the title, it provides room to list detailed information about the persons or institutions responsible for different aspects of the realisation of the electronic text.

<author>: contains the name of an/the author(s) of the electronic text

<editor>: contains the name of an/the editor(s) of the electronic text

<sponsor>: specifies the name of a sponsoring organisation or institution for the realisation of the electronic text

<funder>: specifies the name of a party responsible for the funding of the realisation of the electronic text

<principal>: supplies the name of the principal researcher responsible for the creation of an electronic text

<respStmt> (statement of responsibility): supplies a statement of responsibility for the intellectual content of the electronic text, where the specialised elements for authors, editors, etc. do not suffice or do not apply

Although the electronic text can be named anything, often its title will reflect the title of the source text (if any). In order to point out the distinction, it is advised to explicate the status of the electronic text in a phrase like an digital edition, an electronic transcription, or the like. The TEI Guidelines strongly advise to separate the title of an electronic text from the name of the file in which it is saved, as the latter is likely subject to change.

All elements inside <titleStmt> may occur as often as needed, in order to list all (sub)titles, authors, editors, or others responsible for the realisation of the electronic text. For example, the <titleStmt> section for our example could be expanded as follows:

Note:

Note how the order of the element inside <titleStmt> is free. Also, the <funder> element illustrates how the <titleStmt> elements may contain common phrase level elements, for example an <address>.

Note the specific form of the statements of additional responsibilities inside <respStmt>. Each responsibility statement should contain a proper name inside <name>, identifying the responsible party, and describe the responsibility inside a <resp> element. When one person or institution has more than one responsibilities, these may be enumerated in a number of <resp> elements.

The example above lists the translator among the 'additional responsibilities' section. However, this can be understood as a kind of editor role, hence encoded as <editor>. In order to distinguish between different kind of editorial responsibilities, the <editor> element has a specific @role attribute, whose values can include translator, editor, compiler, illustrator, etc. Likewise, the author of the preface could be considered a kind of editor and encoded as such.

When encoding an electronic text, you might want to identify who is responsible for certain textual phenomena, such as additions, deletions, solutions of abbreviations, annotations, etc. Many of the tags for such phenomena have a @resp attribute, whose value should refer to an element formally identified elsewhere. Of course, the <titleStmt> provides an excellent location to provide such formal identification codes, by making use of the global @xml:id attribute. This way, the textual phenomena in a transcription can be associated directly with both the name of the responsible parties, and their roles in realising the electronic text.

These identifications allow the encoder to distinguish, for example, between an editorial annotation and a note by the translator in the text:

<!-- editorial annotation -->

<noteresp="#RvdB">

<term>ass</term>

<gloss>donkey</gloss>

</note>

<!-- note by the translator -->

<noteresp="#GS">I hesitated between "The Piece of Shagreen" and "The Wild Ass' Skin" for the title, but Balzac's own remarks decided me. "The Magic Skin" is very weak, and "The Skin of Shagreen" hideous.</note>

Summary

The title statement (<titleStmt>) is the first mandatory subsection of the file description. It should at least contain a <title> element, providing a title for the electronic text. Besides the title, different parties can be identified that had been involved in the realisation of the electronic text: author (<author>), editor (<editor>), sponsor (<sponsor>), funder (<funder>), principal (<principal>). Other responsibilities may be encoded in a <respStmt> element, listing both the name of the responsible party (<name>), and its responsibilities in a list of <resp> elements. For reference purposes, it makes sense to formally identify the parties identified in the title statement with global @xml:id attributes.

3.1.2. The Edition Statement

The edition statement provides detailed information about the edition of the electronic text (if applicable). Similar to editions of printed texts, electronic texts may be substantially revised in different versions. Somehow closer to the world of software programs, an edition of an electronic text can be compared to the 'release' of a piece of software. For an electronic text, the alteration of its contents, or addition/expansion/removal of substantive (types of) meta-information could qualify a new version of an electronic text as a new edition.

<p> | <edition>: a description of the edition; either as loose prose paragraphs (<p>), or in a specific <edition> element

<respStmt>: contains descriptions of responsibilities specific to the current edition

The edition may be described either loosely in one or more paragraphs (<p>), or in a more specific <edition> element. One of both (but not both) must be present. Note that only one <edition> element may be used. When applicable, responsible parties and their specific responsibilities for this edition can be listed inside a <respStmt> element, identifying both the responsible party (<name>) and its responsibilities (<resp>).

The TEI Guidelines state that

[a]n edition statement is optional for the first release of a computer file; it is mandatory for each later release, though this requirement cannot be enforced by the parser. 2.2.2 The Edition Statement

If, for example, the digital edition of this version of The Wild Ass's Skin builds on an existing electronic edition, but adds a substantive new category of annotations by Melissa Terras, this could be reflected in the <editionStmt> as follows:

<editionStmt>

<editionn="2.0">

<title>Version 2.0, enriched with thematic annotations.</title>

<datewhen="2010">2010</date>

</edition>

<respStmt>

<name>Melissa Terras</name>

<resp>Added thematic annotations.</resp>

</respStmt>

</editionStmt>

Note how we can't formally identify Melissa anymore, as this person already has been identified earlier (at least, not with the same identification code, as these have to be unique within an XML document). If we want to identify her in this role, there are two solutions:

Summary

The particular edition of the electronic text can be described in <editionStmt>, either as a loose prose description in (a) paragraph(s) (<p>), or one <edition> element. Additional responsibilities associated with this edition can be stated in (a) <respStmt> element(s).

3.1.3. File Size

The <extent> section of the file description provides an analogue to the bibliographical indication of the size of printed books. It allows the encoder to express the size of the electronic text, be it in terms of its carrier medium (bits, bytes, number of diskettes/DVDs), or in terms of its contents (number of words/sentences). In this way, the TEI Guidelines aim to offer some way of formalising this often fluid notion of size in digital terms. Because of the low level of formalisation of such kinds of information, the <extent> element may contain a loose prose description of the amount and units of size.

For example, the size of our example text could be encoded as follows:

<extent>572 Kb</extent>

...or, in terms of its carrier medium:

<extent>1 5.25" floppy disk (720 Kb)</extent>

Summary

The <extent> section of the file description provides a means to record the size of the electronic text.

3.1.4. The Publication Statement

The publication statement (<publicationStmt>) is the second mandatory section of the file description. It provides details about the publication status of the electronic text, in one or more of following subsections:

The publication statement can either contain a loose prose description in one or more paragraphs (<p>), or any of the other elements (although the TEI Guidelines recommend to use at least <publisher>, <distributor>, or <authority>).

The element names are quite transparent, and analogous to the labels often present in traditional bibliographic descriptions of printed works. Most of them can contain plain text and phrase-level elements, apart from <address>, <availability>, and <idno>. The <address> element must contain at least a generic <addrLine> element containing a single address line, or more specific address elements like <street>, <name>, <postCode>, or <postBox>. Information on availability and terms of use inside <availability> must be given in at least one paragraph (<p>). The availability of the electronic text can be typed formally in a @status attribute on <availability>, with three possible values:

free: the text is freely available

restricted: the text is not freely available

unknown: the status of the text is unknown

The <idno> element can be used to provide a formal identification code in some kind of scheme. The code itself must be given in plain text; the applicable identification scheme can be identified in the value of the @type attribute. Possible values include ISBN (International Standard Book Number), LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number), DOI (Digital Object Identifier), etc. The <date> element can give the date in free prose. Additionally, for automation's sake, the use of the @when attribute is recommended. Its value should be a formal representation of the date, most commonly in the form yyyy-mm-dd.

Note how the availability description contains an external reference to an online description of the licensing scheme. This is possible since the paragraphs inside <availability> can contain anything a regular paragraph can contain.

Summary

The publication statement of an electronic text inside <publicationStmt> is the second mandatory subsection of the file description. It reflects the bibliographic publication description of a printed work, and can be provided either as loose prose in one or more paragraphs (<p>), or with one or more specialised elements. The TEI Guidelines advise to state at least the publisher (<publisher>), distributor (<distributor>), or any other bodies responsible for making available the electronic text (<authority>). Additional elements are provided for the description of the publication place (<pubPlace>), publication address (<address>), bibliographic identification code (<idno>), availability and terms of use (<availability>), and publication date (<date>).

3.1.5. The Series Statement

If the electronic text is published in a series, this series can be described in the <seriesStmt> element. It may contain following elements:

<p> | <title>: a description of the series, either in a loose prose description (<p>), or by naming the series inside <title>

<idno>: a standardised bibliographic identification code for the series in which the electronic text is published

<respStmt>: statement of responsibility for the realisation of the series

The series statement may either be given in loose prose inside paragraphs (<p>), or must at least name the title of the series (<title>). Additionally, an identification code for the series, and/or for the electronic text within the series, can be given inside <idno> with an appropriate value for its @type attribute. Responsible parties for the realisation of the series can be listed in (a) <respStmt> element(s).

For example, our sample electronic text could be published in a series that could be described as follows:

<seriesStmt>

<title>The TBE collection: sample texts encoded with TEI.</title>

<idnotype="ISSN">0000-0001</idno>

<idnotype="installment">1</idno>

<respStmt>

<name>Edward Vanhoutte</name>

<resp>compiler</resp>

</respStmt>

</seriesStmt>

Note how the second <idno> element is used to identify the electronic text within the series. The @type attribute indicates here that the identification refers to the sequence number of the instalments in the series. It could, of course, indicate other reference schemes as well (such as volumes, issues, ...).

Summary

Details on the series in which an electronic text was published may be recorded in the <seriesStmt> element. The series statement may either be given as loose prose inside paragraphs (<p>), or must at least name the title of the series (<title>). Additionally, an identification code for the series, and/or for the electronic text within the series, can be given inside <idno> with an appropriate value for its @type attribute. Responsible parties for the realisation of the series can be listed in (a) <respStmt> element(s).

3.1.6. The Notes Statement

The <notesStmt> section of the file description is reserved for additional information that is not covered in the general bibliographic description. Each piece of additional information should be encoded in a separate <note>:

<notesStmt>

<note>OCR scanning done at KANTL, Gent.</note>

</notesStmt>

Summary

The <notesStmt> section of the file description is reserved for additional information that is not covered in the general bibliographic description. Each piece of additional information should be encoded in a separate <note>

3.1.7. The Source Description

The source description inside <sourceDesc> is the third required subsection of the file description. It should contain one of following elements:

<p> | <bibl> | <biblStruct> | <biblFull> | <listBibl>: the bibliographic description of the source text, either as a loose prose description in a paragraph (<p>); a formal bibliographic description, either loose (<bibl>), structured (<biblStruct>), or exhaustive (<biblFull>); or a list of bibliographic references (<listBibl>)

The source text of the electronic text can be described either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s) (<p>), or by means of a more specialised bibliographical element (<bibl>, <biblStruct>, <biblFull>, <listBibl>).

Of course, not all texts are derived from a material source text. In fact, lots of TEI documents are encoded from scratch, just like regular text files produced with text processing software. For such texts, a kind of 'dummy' statement can be given in a paragraph inside <sourceDesc>. For example, the <sourceDesc> element of this TBE tutorial module (a native TEI electronic document) looks as follows:

<sourceDesc>

<p>No source, born digital.</p>

</sourceDesc>

If possible, however, it is recommended to bibliographically describe the material source document using a more specialised TEI element for bibliographic description. The <bibl>, <biblStruct>, and <biblFull> elements share a common set of allowed child elements, but differ in their degree of completeness and strictness. The most informal of the specialised bibliographical elements is <bibl>, which allows a prose-like bibliographic description, possibly interspersed with bibliographic elements, the most important of which are:

The same information can be structured more rigorously using the <biblStruct> element. A structured bibliography may contain the same bibliographic elements, but structured in a more explicit way on three possible levels:

<analytic>: bibliographic description of an item published within a monograph or journal:

<biblScope>: the bibliographic scope for the bibliographic item within the series

Our example could be elaborated as follows:

<sourceDesc>

<biblStruct>

<monogr>

<title>The Wild Ass's Skin</title>

<author>Honoré de Balzac</author>

<editorrole="translator">Ellen Marriage</editor>

<editorrole="preface">George Saintsbury</editor>

<imprint>

<pubPlace>London</pubPlace>

<publisher>Dent</publisher>

<datewhen="1906">1906</date>

</imprint>

<extent>xv</extent>

<extent>288 p.</extent>

</monogr>

</biblStruct>

</sourceDesc>

The <biblFull> element requires the most extensive bibliographic description for the source of the electronic text, organised in the same categories as the file description of the electronic text itself (without the <sourceDesc> section, of course): a mandatory title statement (<fileDesc>), optional edition statement (<editionStmt>), indication of the size (<extent>), mandatory publication statement (<publicationStmt>), series statement (<seriesStmt>), and possibly additional bibliographic notes (<notesStmt>). As this level of detail exceeds the aims of this introductory tutorial, you are kindly referred to the <biblFull> reference section of the TEI Guidelines for a full reference and examples.

If an electronic text is derived from more source texts, these can all be described with the desired granularity using <bibl>, <biblStruct>, and <biblFull>. When doing so, the <listBibl> provides a convenient way to group these bibliographic descriptions.

Although our example text is derived from only one source, following example illustrates how <listBibl> can be used:

Note:

When the dedicated msdescription TEI module for Manuscript Description is included in a TEI schema, the <sourceDesc> section of the TEI header provides a specific element for the bibliographic description of the source manuscript for the electronic text: <msDesc>. Due to the extensiveness of this element and the specificity of its use, you are referred to the TEI Guidelines for a full reference on how to bibliographically describe source manuscripts. Chapter 10 Manuscript Description is nearly completely devoted to this element.

Summary

The description of the material sources for an electronic text inside <sourceDesc> is the third mandatory subsection of the file description. It must contain either a prose description of the source in (a) paragraph(s) (<p>), or a more formalised description using one of the specific TEI elements for bibliographic description: <bibl>, <biblStruct>, or <biblFull>. When an electronic text is derived from more source texts, these descriptions may be grouped inside a <listBibl> element.

3.1.8. Summary

When all pieces are put together, the file description for our example can look as follows:

Summary

The file description (<fileDesc>) is the first and sole mandatory section of the TEI header. It contains a description of the electronic text, in a mandatory title statement (<titleStmt>), a description of the specific edition of the electronic text is published (<editionStmt>), the file size (<extent>), a mandatory description of publication details of the electronic text (<publicationStmt>), a description of the series in which the electronic text is published (<seriesStmt>), additional bibliographic notes (<notesStmt>), and a mandatory bibliographic description of the electronic text's material source text (<sourceDesc>).

3.2. The Encoding Description

The encoding description, in the <encodingDesc> element, is the second major section of the TEI header. It documents the relationship between the electronic text and its source text, either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or in minimally one of more specific elements. Some of these specific elements provide details on the editorial principles for the transcription, and/or the project in which the electronic text originated:

<editorialDecl> (editorial practise declaration): description of aspects of the editorial practise that informed the creation of the electronic text

<projectDesc> (project description): description of the aims and circumstances of project that informed the creation of the electronic text

Besides these descriptive subsections, the encoding declaration is the place where reference systems are defined or declared that can be used anywhere in the document:

<tagsDecl> (tagging declaration): information about the tags used for the encoding of the electronic text

<refsDecl> (reference system declaration): declaration of reference systems used in the encoding of the electronic text

<classDecl> (classification declaration): declaration of classification scheme(s) used to classify the electronic text elsewhere in the document

Finally, the encoding description can contain subsections that are only enabled when specific TEI modules are included in the TEI schema:

Note:

Besides these elements, the encoding description can contain other subsections as well, dealing with, for example, a sampling declaration for text collections (<samplingDecl>), a declaration of nonstandard characters (<charDecl>), the applications used for processing the electronic text (<appInfo>), etc. Due to their specificity, these elements are not discussed in this introductory tutorial; see section 2.3 The Encoding Description of the TEI Guidelines for full coverage.

3.2.1. The Editorial Practise Declaration

The editorial policy used when marking up the electronic text can be documented in <editorialDecl>, either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or in minimally one specific element. Following elements are most common:

<correction>: describes if / how / when corrections have been made in the text. A @status attribute can indicate the degree of correction applied to the text (low, medium, high, or unknown); a @method attribute can formalise whether corrections have been applied silently or by means of markup.

<normalization>: describes if / how / when the text has been normalised. A @source attribute can point to the description of the authority for the normalisations; a @method attribute can formalise whether normalisations have been applied silently or by means of markup.

<quotation>: describes how quotation marks in the original have been treated in the electronic text. A @marks attribute can record the degree to which quotation marks have been retained in the electronic text (none, some, or all).

<hyphenation>: describes how hyphenated text in the original has been treated in the electronic text. An @eol attribute can record the degree to which end-of-line hyphenation has been retained in the electronic text (none, some, all, or hard (only hard end-of-line hyphenation has been retained)).

<interpretation>: describes what interpretive information has been added to the text, apart from the transcription

All of these elements must contain at least one paragraph (<p>) containing the description.

For our example, the <editorialDecl> subsection could look as follows:

<editorialDecl>

<correctionmethod="markup">

<p>Apparent errors have been corrected using the <sic> / <corr> elements, wrapped in a <choice> element.</p>

</correction>

<normalizationmethod="markup" source="http://www.oed.com/">

<p>Spelling has been modernised using the <orig> / <reg> elements, wrapped in a <choice> element.</p>

</normalization>

<quotationmarks="all">

<p>Diplomatic transcription, all original quotation marks have been retained and normalised to double quotation marks.</p>

</quotation>

<hyphenationeol="none">

<p>End-of-line hyphenation has been removed. All other hyphenation has been retained.</p>

</hyphenation>

<interpretation>

<p>Thematic analysis added, studying the main motifs.</p>

<p>Names and dates are marked.</p>

</interpretation>

</editorialDecl>

Summary

The <editorialDecl> subsection of the encoding description documents the editorial practise that has been adopted for the encoding of the electronic text. It may consist of either a loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or more specialised elements describing the editorial policy concerning corrections (<correction>), normalisation (<normalization>), quotation (<quotation>), hyphenation (<hyphenation>), and interpretation (<interpretation>).

3.2.2. The Project Description

The aims and purposes for which the electronic text has been created can be given in <projectDesc>, as well as any other information regarding this endeavour. The structure of <projectDesc> is simple: it consists simply of (a) paragraph(s) (<p>).

Summary

The <projectDesc> subsection of the encoding description provides more information about the aims and goals for which the electronic text has been created. This is provided as a prose description in one or more paragraphs (<p>).

3.2.3. The Tagging Declaration

The XML elements that have been used to mark up the text can be formally documented in the <tagsDecl> subsection of the encoding description. Following aspects can be documented:

<namespace>: formally identifies the namespace to which the XML elements belong that are documented in its <tagUsage> children

<rendition>: declares a rendering style for one or more XML elements in the electronic text

The XML tags occurring within an electronic text can be documented with <tagUsage> elements, grouped within a <namespace> element. The <namespace> element must include a formal reference to the namespace of these XML elements in its @name attribute. For any default TEI text, this namespace reference should point to the http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0 namespace definition. Each distinct XML element occurring within the <text> part of the electronic text should be documented in its own <tagUsage> element, providing a prose description for the use of this element in the electronic text. The element name must be provided in the @gi (general identifier) attribute. Additionally, the number of occurrences can be recorded in an @occurs attribute, and the number of occurrences with a unique identification code can be given in a @withId attribute. A @render attribute can point to a standard rendering style for this element:

Note:

Note how the listing of the distinct elements in an electronic text and their occurrences (with ID code) can only be provided after the completion of the encoding, before publication. The counting of all unique text elements and their occurrences is typically a task that can be automated, for example by using XSLT or XSLT 2.0 stylesheets. The TEI Wiki has a dedicated section with useful XSLT snippets: if you can't figure out how to perform a specific XSLT job for your TEI files, the XSLT section on the TEI Wiki may be a good place to start looking for inspiration.

Of course, if your electronic document contains elements from other namespaces, these should be documented within their dedicated <namespace> element. Note how the @render attribute points to the definition of a rendering style somewhere else in the document. The tagging declaration is the place for such definitions as well, by means of different <rendition> elements for each distinct rendition style. Rendition styles can be hand-crafted, or refer to existing styling languages such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or XSL FO (eXtensible Stylesheet Language: Formatting Objects). The @scheme attribute defines one of these styles: css (CSS), xslfo (XSL FO), free (informal free text description), or other (any other formal rendition scheme). The contents of the <rendition> element then can provide the formal rendition rules expressed in any of the schemes identified. For example, the styles 'div' and 'p' can be defined in terms of CSS rules as follows:

Note how the @xml:id value of the <rendition> elements is used to refer to these definitions with the @render attribute. Furthermore, these rendering styles can be referred to with any TEI element in the electronic text by means of the global @rendition attribute. For example, the main title on the title page:

...appearing as large red text in small caps, can be encoded as follows:

Summary

The <tagsDecl> subsection of the encoding declaration can document all tags, their usage and rendition in the electronic document. Specific rendition styles can be defined with a <rendition> element, whose @scheme attribute identifies the formal rendition scheme. Documentation for all unique tags occurring inside the electronic document's <text> element should be grouped per namespace to which they belong, within a <namespace> element. Its @name attribute must point to a formal definition of that namespace. Each unique tag of that namespace then can be documented with a dedicated <tagUsage> element, containing a prose description, the tag's name in the @gi attribute, and indications for its occurrence within the electronic document, either in general (the @occurs attribute), or with a unique identification code (@withId).

3.2.4. The Reference System Declaration

Any reference schemes that are used in the electronic text can be declared in the <refsDecl> subsection of the encoding description. They can be defined either as loose prose descriptions in (a) paragraph(s) (<p>), or with specialised elements. Because of the complexity of these specialised elements, this tutorial section only treats the informal prose description.

Note:

The reference schemes used in the document can be declared very formally with specific elements within <refsDecl>. Because this is much too complex for this introductory tutorial, you are referred to section 2.3.5 The Reference System Declaration of the TEI Guidelines for full coverage.

The reference system declaration may be used to document any reference system used in the electronic text, for example the numbering schemes in @n attributes of certain elements, the composition of @xml:id values for certain elements, and so on.

For example, the numbering scheme of paragraphs, and identification codes of chapters could be documented as follows in the example text:

<refsDecl>

<p>The paragraphs in the text are numbered with the <att>n</att> attribute. Each number consists of four digits; numbering is consecutive throughout the book. For example: <val>0203</val> numbers the 203th paragraph throughout the book.</p>

<p>Each chapter is identified with a formal identification code inside the <att>xml:id</att> attribute. Chapters are numbered using arabic numerals. The codes are composed by concatenating the identification codes for all ancestor text divisions down to the chapter level, with the dot as separation marker. For example: <val>I.2.3</val> identifies the third chapter of the second book of the first volume.</p>

</refsDecl>

Summary

Any reference scheme used in the electronic text can be documented in the <refsDecl> subsection of the encoding declaration. The description can happen either informally in (a) paragraph(s), or more formally in dedicated TEI elements (not treated in this introductory tutorial).

3.2.5. The Classification Declaration

If you want to classify the electronic text using some kind of classification scheme or taxonomy, this taxonomy should be defined inside the <classDecl> subsection of the encoding description. The actual classification of the text is done in another part of the TEI header (see 3.3.3. Text Classification), but it must point to one of the taxonomies defined here. The classification schemes used in the electronic document must each be defined in a dedicated element:

The <taxonomy> element can either refer to an existing classification scheme, or define an own classification scheme, and should be formally identified in an @xml:id attribute. If the taxonomy refers to an existing classification scheme, this should be described in a <bibl> element. The library record for our example text contains a reference to the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) scheme (see code 082 in the screenshot above). If we want to include this classification code, and the Library of Congress Subject Headings in our electronic version of the text, these schemes should be referred to in a <taxonomy> element as follows:

If the classification scheme is less universal, or if you want to roll your own, the <taxonomy> element can be used as well. Apart from an optional bibliographical reference in <bibl>, the classification categories can be defined in separate <category> elements, each with their own @xml:id identification code. The category can be described in a <catDesc> element. As the classification categories can nest, it is possible to define hierarchical classification systems. For example, it could make sense to classify this novel in the terms of the Balzac's own plan of the Comédie Humaine, which the author envisaged as the encompassing series for his complete prose oeuvre:

<taxonomyxml:id="BCS">

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man">

<catDesc>Studies of Manners</catDesc>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.priv">

<catDesc>Scenes from Private Life</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.prov">

<catDesc>Scenes from provincial life</catDesc>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.prov.cel">

<catDesc>The Celibates</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.prov.par">

<catDesc>Parisians in the Country</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.prov.jeal">

<catDesc>The Jealousies of a Country Town</catDesc>

</category>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.par">

<catDesc>Scenes from Parisian life</catDesc>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.thir">

<catDesc>The Thirteen</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.rel">

<catDesc>Poor Relations</catDesc>

</category>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.pol">

<catDesc>Scenes from political life</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.mil">

<catDesc>Scenes from military life</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.man.cou">

<catDesc>Scenes from country life</catDesc>

</category>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.phil">

<catDesc>Philosophical studies</catDesc>

</category>

<categoryxml:id="BCS.ana">

<catDesc>Analytical studies</catDesc>

</category>

</taxonomy>

In this example, a separate taxonomy is created for Balzac's Comédie Humaine, indicated with the identification code BCS. It consists of 6 subcategories, each in its own <category> element, and a more detailed value for its @xml:id attribute. Some of these categories contain even further categories. These categories can be referred to in the actual text classification further in the TEI header (see 3.3.3. Text Classification).

Summary

If the TEI header contains a formal text classification, the classification schemes used must be defined in the <classDecl> subsection of the encoding description. Each classification scheme should be identified by means of the @xml:id attribute of a <taxonomy> element. Such taxonomy declarations can either refer to public classification schemes, with a <bibl> element, or define its own classification categories inside specific <category> elements. Such category descriptions should describe the category in a <catDesc> element.

3.2.6. The Metrical Notation Declaration (available in the verse module)

When the TEI module verse is included in the TEI scheme, the encoding description contains an additional element for the declaration of the metrical notation used in the analysis of poetry: <metDecl>.

Crosslink

See

TBE module 4: Poetry for a discussion of the elements in the TEI verse module

The metrical notation may be defined either informally, in a (series of) paragraph(s) (<p>), or formally using one or more <metSym> elements. An informal declaration may look as follows:

<metDecl>

<p>The classical scansion system has been used, which marks quantitative metre originally by a macron (here a dash '-') for long syllables and a breve (here a 'u') for short syllables. A bar '|' is used to mark the foot boundary and a slash '/' marks the line boundary.</p>

</metDecl>

This system can be declared more formally via one or more <metSym> (metrical notation symbol) elements. Each metrical symbol to be used in an analysis in the electronic text must be defined in the @value attribute, and described in the text contents of a <metSym> element. The previous example could be formalised as follows:

<metDecl>

<metSymvalue="-">long syllable</metSym>

<metSymvalue="u">short syllable</metSym>

<metSymvalue="|">foot boundary</metSym>

<metSymvalue="/">line boundary</metSym>

</metDecl>

After having declared the notation system for metrical analysis, you can use this notation system for metrical analyses in the electronic text. For example, if you consider following section in the text of The Wild Ass's Skin a poem:

<lgtype="poem" rendition="#center #caps">

<l>Possessing me thou shalt possess all things,</l>

<l>but thy life is mine, for God has so willed it.</l>

<l>Wish, and thy wishes shall be fulfilled;</l>

<l>but measure thy desires, according</l>

<l>to the life that is in thee.</l>

<l>This is thy life,</l>

<l>with each wish I must shrink</l>

<l>even as ty own days.</l>

<l>Wilt thou have me? Take me.</l>

<l>God will hearken unto thee.</l>

<l>So be it!</l>

</lg>

You can enrich the transcription with a metrical analysis by means of the specific @met attribute. It should contain the symbols for the metrical notation system you declared in the <metDecl> subsection of the encoding description:

<lgtype="poem" rendition="#center #caps">

<lmet="uuu-|uuuuuu/">Possessing me thou shalt possess all things,</l>

<lmet="uu-u-|uuuuuu/">but thy life is mine, for God has so willed it.</l>

<lmet="u|u-uuu-uu/">Wish, and thy wishes shall be fulfilled;</l>

<lmet="u-uuu-|uuu/">but measure thy desires, according</l>

<lmet="uu-|uuu-/">to the life that is in thee.</l>

<lmet="uu--/">This is thy life,</l>

<lmet="u-u-uu/">with each wish I must shrink</l>

<lmet="-uu-u-/">even as thy own days.</l>

<lmet="u-u-|-u/">Wilt thou have me? Take me.</l>

<lmet="uuuuuu-/">God will hearken unto thee.</l>

<lmet="--u/">So be it!</l>

</lg>

Summary

When the verse TEI module is included in a TEI scheme, the encoding description contains a specific subsection for the declaration of metrical notation systems: <metDecl>. It can contain either an informal prose description of such a system in (a) paragraph(s) (<p>), or make use of more formalised <metSym> (metrical notation symbol) elements. Their @value attributes must specify a symbol for a metrical phenomenon that is described as their text contents. This metrical notation system can then be used in the specific @met attribute on poetic structures in the electronic text.

3.2.7. The Variant Encoding (available in the textcrit module)

When the TEI module textcrit is included in the TEI scheme, the encoding description contains an additional element for the declaration of the method used to indicate text-critical variants: <variantEncoding/>.

The <variantEncoding/> element is an empty element with two mandatory attributes. With the @method attribute, you must identify one of three methods for the encoding of text-critical variants in the electronic text:

location-referenced: apparatus entries are anchored to identified locations in the text

double-end-point: apparatus entries are anchored to the precise start and end point of the lemma in a base text

The second aspect of the system for the encoding of text-critical variants that must be indicated, is the location of the text-critical apparatus. This must be done in the @location attribute, with two possible values:

internal: the text-critical apparatus is encoded within the running text

external: the text-critical apparatus is encoded outside the running text

If we wanted to create a digital text-critical edition of The Wild Ass's Skin by collating different editions of the novel, we should include the textcrit module in our TEI schema and declare the system used to represent the textual variation in <variantEncoding/>. The following declaration, for example, specifies that the textual variation is encoded in the running text, using the parallel-segmentation method:

<variantEncodingmethod="parallel-segmentation" location="internal"/>

For a full treatment of recording textual variation in critical editions, see TBE module 7. Scholarly Editing.

Summary

When the textcrit TEI module is included in a TEI scheme, the encoding description contains a specific subsection for the declaration of the encoding system for textual variation: <variantEncoding/>. It is an empty element that must have two attributes. The @method attribute indicates which of three methods is used to encode textual variation (location-referenced, double-end-point, or parallel-segmentation). The @location attribute specifies where the critical apparatus is located: internal or external to the base text.

3.2.8. Summary

In the previous sections, we added the encoding description for our electronic edition of The Wild Ass's Skin, describing the editorial principles; the aim and purposes of the encoding; the different XML elements, their use and rendition; the system(s) that will be used to classify the text (further in the header), the notation system for metrical analyses of poems in the text, and the method of recording textual variation for the text-critical edition. This amounts to following encoding description:

<encodingDesc>

<editorialDecl>

<correctionmethod="markup">

<p>Apparent errors have been corrected using the sic> / <corr> elements, wrapped in a <choice> element.</p>

</correction>

<normalizationmethod="markup" source="http://www.oed.com/">

<p>Spelling has been modernised using the <orig> / <reg> elements, wrapped in a <choice> element.</p>

</normalization>

<quotationmarks="all">

<p>Diplomatic transcription, all original quotation marks have been retained and normalised to double quotation marks.</p>

</quotation>

<hyphenationeol="none">

<p>End-of-line hyphenation has been removed. All other hyphenation has been retained.</p>

<p>The paragraphs in the text are numbered with the <att>n</att> attribute. Each number consists of four digits; numbering is consecutive throughout the book. For example: <val>0203</val> numbers the 203th paragraph throughout the book.</p>

<p>Each chapter is identified with a formal identification code inside the <att>xml:id</att> attribute. Chapters are numbered using arabic numerals. The codes are composed by concatenating the identification codes for all ancestor text divisions down to the chapter level, with the dot as separation marker. For example: <val>I.2.3</val> identifies the third chapter of the second book of the first volume.</p>

Summary

The encoding description (<encodingDesc>) is the second section of the TEI header. It describes the relationship between the electronic text and its source text, either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or in minimally one of more specific elements. Aspects that can be documented are the editorial practise (<editorialDecl>), the project context in which the electronic text was realised (<projectDesc>), a declaration of all XML elements used in the encoding (<tagsDecl>), declaration of reference systems used in the encoding (<refsDecl>), and a declaration of any classification schemes used to classify the text (<classDecl>). When the verse TEI module is included in the TEI schema, the system for metrical analysis can be declared in the <metDecl> element. When the TEI schema includes the textcrit TEI module for the encoding of text-critical variants, the system used for variant encoding may be documented in <variantEncoding/>.

3.3. The Profile Description

The profile description, in the <profileDesc> element, is the third major section of the TEI header. It can be used to document all kinds of non-bibliographic information about an electronic text, either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or in minimally one of more specific elements. The most important subsections are:

<langUsage> (language usage): information about the languages used in the text

<textClass> (text classification): classification of the contents of the text, according to a classification scheme

Besides these general subsections, some TEI modules add other specific subsections to the profile description. When the transcr TEI module for the description of primary sources is included in a TEI schema, following element can be used in <profileDesc>:

<handNotes>: identification of the different hands in a primary document

Note:

Besides these elements, the corpus TEI module can add more elements to describe specific aspects of the compilation of a language corpus. These are not covered in this introductory tutorial; for a full reference, see section 15.2 Contextual Information of the TEI Guidelines.

3.3.1. Creation

If there are any details worth recording about the actual place or time of creation of the source text, this can be done in the <creation> element, as a loose prose description. This may be useful when the text was created long before its publication, as an exact situation in place and time can be important to certain types of research (e.g. study of (diachronic) linguistic variation). It is worth pointing out the difference between the circumstances about the creation of a text (which must be recorded in this <creation> element), and the bibliographic circumstances of its publication (which must be recorded in a bibliographic description in the <sourceDesc> subsection of the TEI header) .

For example:

<creation>Original written in <datewhen="1831">1831</date> in <nametype="city">Paris</name>.</creation>

Summary

The <creation> element can provide a prose description about particularities on the creation of a text, such as its actual time and place of writing.

3.3.2. Language Usage

The <langUsage> subsection of the profile description provides room to describe the different languages used in the text. Each language must be described in a distinct <language> element. It may contain a prose description of the language (or dialect), and must provide a formal identification code for this language in the @ident (identifier) attribute. When appropriate, the distribution of this language over the text contents can be stated as a percentage in a @usage attribute. Section vi.1. Language identification of the TEI Guidelines offer recommendations for the constructions of the formal language identification codes for the @ident attribute. It is important that these codes correspond to the values of the @xml:lang attributes to identify phrases in that language in the electronic text.

For example, the languages used in the English translation of The Wild Ass's Skin could be defined as follows:

<langUsage>

<languageident="en" usage="98">English</language>

<languageident="fr" usage="1">French</language>

<languageident="ar" usage="1">Arabic</language>

</langUsage>

Summary

The languages used in an electronic text can be formally declared in the <langUsage> subsection of the profile description. Each language can be described in a separate <language> element, which must contain a formal identification code in the @ident attribute, and can provide details about the distribution of this language in the text in a @usage attribute.

3.3.3. Text Classification

The contents of the text can be classified according to one or more classification schemes in the <textClass> subsection of the profile description. It can be done by means of three specific elements:

<catRef/>: a list of pointers to specific categories in a given taxonomy

In general, these elements allow for two kinds of classification:

reference to an external classification scheme, which uses either subject headings (<keywords>), or classification codes (<classCode>)

reference to specific categories in an internally defined taxonomy (<catRef/>)

The <keywords> and <classCode> elements fulfil a similar role: they allow you to use classification categories defined in external classification schemes. If such a scheme defines categories in terms of subject headings, the <keywords> element should be used to refer to those keywords; if the scheme defines categories in terms of classification codes, the <classCode> element should be used. The classification scheme must be identified in the @scheme attribute, which contains a pointer to its declaration in a <taxonomy> element inside the <classDecl> subsection of the encoding description (see 3.2.5. The Classification Declaration).

The <keywords> element must list the terms either in a series of <term> elements, or make use of a <list> structure. For example, The Wild Ass's Skin can be classified in terms of the Library of Congress Subject Headings scheme as follows:

<keywordsscheme="#lcsh">

<list>

<item>Literature</item>

<item>Fiction and juvenile belles lettres</item>

<item>Literature--Translations into English</item>

</list>

</keywords>

...and / or in terms of the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme like this (see code 082 in the library record above):

<classCodescheme="#DDC">843.7</classCode>

When you have defined your own classification system in the encoding description (see 3.2.5. The Classification Declaration), you can refer to one of its categories by means of the <catRef/> element. This is an empty element that must point to the category definitions in a @target attribute. This is basically a list of pointers to the @xml:id attributes of the relevant categories in one of the <taxonomy> elements you defined in the profile description section of the TEI header. If the reference to the category does not suffice, the @scheme attribute may point to the declaration of the relevant taxonomy containing the category. For example, The Wild Ass's Skin could be classified using the Balzac-specific classification scheme declared above as follows:

<catReftarget="#BCS.phil" scheme="#BCS"/>

Summary

An electronic text can be classified in the <textClass> subsection of the profile description. A classification can use a keyword (<keyword>) or a classification code (<classCode>) defined in an external classification scheme. The @scheme attribute must be used to refer to the declaration of any external classification scheme in the <classDecl> subsection of the encoding description. Alternatively, the classification can be done using internally defined classification categories defined in the <classDecl> subsection of the encoding description. This is done by pointing to the definition of the relevant classification categories in the @target attribute of a <catRef/> element.

3.3.4. Document Hands

When the transcr TEI module for the transcription of primary sources is included in the TEI scheme, the profile description contains an additional element for the declaration of the different hands occurring in the document <handNotes>.

Each hand that occurs in the source text can be identified in a <handNote> element, containing a prose description of its characteristics. It should be identified with an @xml:id attribute, and can contain additional attributes for formalised documentation of the script or writing style (@script), writing medium (@medium), and an indication of the prominence of this hand in the text (@scope). If the document hand can be ascribed to a specific person, this person can be identified in the @scribe attribute.

For example, the <handNotes> element could be used to identify the hand in which the previous owner of the book has added some annotations (supposed we wanted to transcribe these as well), as well as the Arabic text in this example:

<handNotes>

<handNotexml:id="JH" scribe="JamesHarding" script="hand" medium="ink.blue">handwriting in blue ink by James Harding, previous owner of the book</handNote>

<handNotexml:id="ar" script="arabic">Arabic script</handNote>

</handNotes>

Summary

When the transcr TEI module for the transcription of primary sources is included in the TEI scheme, different hands in the source text can be identified in <handNote> elements inside a <handNotes> subsection of the profile description.

3.3.5. Summary

With the information about the text's creation, languages, and classification in place, the <profileDesc> section of the TEI header for our sample text could look as follows:

<profileDesc>

<creation>Original written in <datewhen="1831">1831</date> in <nametype="city">Paris</name>.</creation>

<langUsage>

<languageident="en" usage="98">English</language>

<languageident="fr" usage="1">French</language>

<languageident="ar" usage="1">Arabic</language>

</langUsage>

<textClass>

<keywordsscheme="#lcsh">

<list>

<item>Literature</item>

<item>Fiction and juvenile belles lettres</item>

<item>Literature--Translations into English</item>

</list>

</keywords>

<classCodescheme="#DDC">843.7</classCode>

<catReftarget="#BCS.phil" scheme="#BCS"/>

</textClass>

<handNotes>

<handNotexml:id="JH" scribe="JamesHarding" script="hand" medium="ink.blue">handwriting in blue ink by James Harding, previous owner of the book</handNote>

<handNotexml:id="ar" script="arabic">Arabic script</handNote>

</handNotes>

</profileDesc>

Summary

The profile description (<profileDesc>) is the third section of the TEI header. It describes all kinds of non-bibliographic information about an electronic text, either as loose prose in (a) paragraph(s), or in minimally one of more specific elements. Aspects relating to the creation of the text can be documented in <creation>, the languages used in the document can be declared in <langUsage>, and a text classification can be provided in <textClass>. When the transcr TEI module for the representation of primary sources is included in the TEI schema, the different hands occurring in the source text can be formally documented in a <handNotes> element.

3.4. The Revision Description

The fourth and final part of the TEI header is reserved for a detailed record of the revisions that have been made to the electronic text, in <revisionDesc>. Each revision is described in a dedicated <change> element. Additionally, it makes sense to formally identify the exact date of the change in a @when attribute, and the person responsible for the change in a @who attribute. The latter points to the definition of a person responsible for some aspect of the electronic text, which is probably defined in the <titleStmt> subsection of the file description section of the TEI header.

Although ordering is arbitrary, it makes sense to rank the changes in chronological order, either ascending or descending. This optimises both readability and maintainability of this logbook, so that it can provide an instant overview of the complete history of the electronic text. For example:

Summary

The complete revision history of an electronic text can be documented in the <revisionDesc> section of the TEI header. Each change to the electronic file can be categorised and recorded in a separate <change> element. The @when attribute can record the date of change, while the @who attribute can be used to refer to an identified person responsible for some aspects of the text.